About The Writers

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Speakout! And Make a Difference

By Delaney Flanagan

We as writers, know how important it is to have a voice. We know how important it
is to share how we feel, recount things that have happened in our lives, and to tell stories. The words we choose to share as writers
are bits and pieces of our soul; even if it is just a simple word, it still
counts. Sharing our voice stirs something inside us; excites us. We know, that
language has a way to change people, inspire people, and evoke emotions. Without it, where would we be?

Think
about it: if you could not write, how would you feel? What if you are one of
the many people in the world who feel their voices aren’t heard? What if
your voice, your words, did not matter? It’s a scary thought, right?

The
truth is, there are those who don’t know how to speak up or share their voice.
I'm talking about adults and youth who are incarcerated, or moving out of incarceration, and youth who
may be at-risk for incarceration. Who is willing
to listen to them and their stories? Would you?

This
last fall semester I had an amazing opportunity to work with the Community Learning Center at Colorado State University and their program, Speakout! The
CLC’s mission statement is as follows:

To create
alternative literacy opportunities that work to educate and empower underserved
populations. The Center supports university literacy research and outreach that
promotes community action and social change.

The
Speakout! Program is one of the best examples of how this mission is being
accomplished. Speakout works with seven groups, in which interns (like myself)
and volunteers, teach and facilitate writing workshops. These groups are from
the Larimer County Jail, Community Corrections, Remington House (youth), and
Turning Point (youth). Each week, interns and volunteers come prepared with
prompts and ideas to get the participants of the workshops writing. And, not
only that, we encourage the participants to use their writing as a way to
share their voices with a larger population.

What
I mean by this, is that each semester, the CLC and the Speakout volunteers and
interns, put together a journal filled with poems, stories, musings, and art
from the writers in each of these workshops. The journals are filled to the
brim with voices that have been quiet or even ignored.

At the end of the semester, the journals are published and
given to each writer of the workshop who put their words and art into print. We
celebrate with the participants and it is a great time to have them read their
work and share it with friends and families. Not only that, the
journals are spread throughout the community and others by way of hands and
word-of-mouth. By doing this, the words of the people whose voices haven’t been
heard, are spread all over. Their words and stories are shared
and others have a chance to listen.

Coming
from someone who participated in one of these workshops (I worked with youth
from Turning Point) the words of these kids have had a huge effect on me. They
have moved me and inspired me in ways other words have never done before. Their words
are their hearts in ink and their souls in print. The work in the journal has a
power to it that says, "Listen to me, because I am here and I exist and I have
something to say!"

“The only reason I now consider myself a writer is because of
SpeakOut! It’s the only constant thing in my life that has been positive. It’s
opened doors in many avenues of my life, as well as encouraged so many other
people to create and find a glimmer of hope in hard times.”

Thanks for sharing this - both your thoughts about your experience and info on the program you interned with! I'm in Ohio (I don't even remember how I got linked to this site, but based on this connection, it was meant to be!) and looking for ways to help a group of incarcerated writers. Lots of good ideas here! Just knowing others are doing something to unlock the words within is encouraging!